St. Louis Blues: Top 10 Moves We Wish Were April Fools’ Jokes

The St. Louis Blues, like any team, do their best to improve their team via a smart trade.  With very few exceptions, no GM ever tries to make a bad deal.  However, this list proves that some trades needed to be thought through a little more.

*note* the Blues actually haven’t made too many bad deals at the deadline, so this will be a list of all bad trades.

The St. Louis Blues have been a bit more quiet at the deadline in the last decade, but during the Ron Caron years they were always making a flurry of deals.

Making a good trade usually depends on what you were trying to do at that moment in time.  On the same account a bad trade can be determined by the eye of the beholder and has many determining factors, i.e. salary concerns, trying to acquire prospects or draft picks etc.

All of those things applied to many trades the Blues have made over their history and sometimes you end up on the short end of the stick.  Some trades were made just to make a trade and some just left you wondering.  All that said, the following deals just did not pan out for the ‘Note.

10.  Ben Bishop

The Blues have problems with the goaltending position like Jefferson County has a problem with meth.

Personally, I have always been on the Snake Train and will until it completely derails.  That said, it is hard to deny the Blues probably gave up on Big Ben too early in his career.

On February 26, 2012 the Blues traded Ben Bishop. At the time, he was just a highly touted goaltender in their minor league system.  They sent him to the Ottawa Senators for a 2013 second round draft pick.

Now this trade is really yet to fully be evaluated, although it is getting close.  It all boils down to what Jake Allen does in his career or if any of the others in the team’s system rise to the occasion.  If they become what the Blues believe and hope they will, then this trade will be a wash at worst.

However, since the Blues have yet to see Thomas Vannelli in the NHL and Bishop eventually went on to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup Finals.  So, for now, this trade does not shine the best of lights on the Blues’ management.

At the time it made sense to send Bishop away since the Blues had Jaroslav Halak, Brian Elliott and Allen.  As is usual in St. Louis, the player that got sent away has had the most success.

9.  Jimmy Roberts

On December 13 1971, the St. Louis Blues traded away Jim Roberts in exchange for Phil Roberto.

The younger people in the audience will be wondering who the heck these people are.  They played in the 1960’s.

Jimmy Roberts was one of the cornerstone players the Blues built their franchise around.  As a defender, he wasn’t flashy but he was well liked and a solid defender.  You can’t ask for much more at the time.

Roberto was brought in for offense and, at first, he provided.  He scored 25 points in his first half year following the trade and 42 the next season.  However, injuries derailed much of the rest of his career and he petered out.

Roberts, on the other hand, remained a steady force until the 1977-78 season.  He was always a good defender, but averaged point scoring in the 30’s with the Blues in a period when defensive scoring was more uncommon.

While the deal might have made sense at the time, with the team trying to add offense, it just didn’t quite work out.  Roberts remained on winning teams with the Canadiens and Roberto never did anything with the Blues.

Typical.

8.  Mike Liut

On February 21 1985 the Blues got Mark Johnson and Greg Millen from Hartford.  To pick up those two, they had to trade away Mike Liut.

To that point, Liut was the Blues’ most popular goaltender since Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante.  Liut had the team record for shutouts for nearly 30 years.

Millen was a decent goaltender, but he wasn’t a suitable replacement.  Millen averaged about 3.4 goals against with the Blues and ended his tenure with the Blues two games under .500.

The addition of Johnson made sense at the time.  Johnson still had the shine of being a member of the Miracle on Ice team.  He was also coming off an 87 point season with the Whalers.

Unfortunately, Johnson only had 47 points with Hartford prior to the deal and only scored 10 with the Blues.  He left for the New Jersey Devils in the summer and had a fairly productive career following that.

So, the Blues got a rental player and an addition to their laundry list of goaltenders that were just OK. When you give up on a goaltender that had been quite productive during his time in St. Louis, that’s not the return you want.  While Liut did not do much with Hartford or Washington afterward, Millen was not an upgrade.

Chalk another one up to the Blues messing it up and plenty of people wondering what might have happened if they stood pat.

6.  Joe Mullen

On February 1, 1986 the Blues traded Mullen, Terry Johnson and Rik Wilson to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Eddy Beers, Charles Bourgeois and Gino Cavallini.  Most of those names you probably haven’t heard of because very few of them did much outside of the two major players.

Johnson and Wilson spent much of their time after the trade in the minor leagues.  Beers retired following the end of the 1985-86 season.  Bourgeois played two and a half seasons with the Blues and only amassed 24 points.

Now, make no mistake, Gino Cavallini was successful with the Blues.  He played six and a half seasons with 91 goals and 211 points.  Not too shabby, right?

Unfortunately, Joey Mullen went on to be a Hall of Famer.  He scored 725 points just in the years following his departure from St. Louis.  He scored 110 points in one season with Calgary in 1988-89 when they won the Cup and then went on to win two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

On the positive side, this trade set up a positive rapport with the Flames that would be beneficial in a few years when they fleeced them out of Brett Hull.  But, I’d like my chances of picking up Hull anyway and having Mullen on the second line.

5.  Doug Gilmour

On September 6, 1988 the Blues made a trade with the Calgary Flames…again.  Gee it’s a good thing these trades didn’t really benefit…oh wait, they did.  Calgary won a Cup with both Gilmour and Mullen.

On this gem of a deal, the Blues sent Gilmour out along with Steve Bozek, Mark Hunter and Michael Dark in exchange for Mike Bullard, Tim Corkery and Craig Coxe.  If you haven’t heard of any of those players in the Blues’ history, there’s a reason.

Bullard played 20 games and bolted for the Flyers.  Corkery never made the league and didn’t get higher than the ECHL.  Coxe played half a season with the Blues and only scored seven assist.  After that he bounced around the minors and other NHL clubs.

Sadly, part of this deal had to do with allegations that Gilmour had sexually assaulted a 14-year old.  While that should not be glossed over, the Blues did not handle it all well.  They supposedly failed to alert the Flames of the legal issues and on top of that got absolutely nothing for a top-line center.

4.  Courtnall and Ronning

Right before the deadline, on March 5, 1991, the Blues got Garth Butcher and Dan Quinn for Geoff Courtnall, Ron Dirk, Sergio Momesso and Cliff Ronning as well as 1992 5th rounder.

Some people will wonder why this one gets ranked higher than Gilmour or Mullen.  Well, I’ll say it doesn’t have much to do with the fact that Quinn got sent packing almost immediately after.

It has to do with this trade setting up the backbone of the team that made it all the way to the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals.  Courtnall had 26 goals and 70 points in 1993-94 and had an amazing 19 points during the Vancouver Canucks playoff run.

Ronning had 25 goals and 68 points in the regular season, coupled with 15 during the charge to the finals.  Momesso had a quiet regular season but had 7 points in the playoffs

To add insult to injury, the Canucks team eliminated the Blues in the 1994 playoffs.  The Blues had a very talented roster with names like Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Craig Janney, Jeff Brown, Steve Duchesne and Phil Housley.  Unfortunately, three of the players they dealt away were big keys to why the Blues lost.

Further pouring salt in that wound, that trade was a gigantic reason the Blues crashed and burned in the 1991 playoffs.  Maybe they wouldn’t have won since Minnesota was really good and went to the Cup final.

Even so, they completely screwed up any team chemistry that had going at that point.  Even if you consider some of those guys third and fourth line players, you are taking five guys and jettisoning them from your roster.

Butcher became a fan favorite and the Blues would get Courtnall back later on, but this trade really was disastrous.

3.  Erik Johnson

This one is more about who the Blues could have had rather than the one they took.  Still, 2006 will live in infamy as one of the low points in Blues draft history.

Erik Johnson’s time in St. Louis seemed doomed from the start.  After the Blues took him first overall in the 2006 NHL Draft, we still fooled ourselves thinking he would be the linchpin of a championship team.

Then, prior to his rookie season, he injured his knee.  We later found out he did it screwing around on a golf cart during the offseason.  The Blues lost their top pick because they were probably drunk and not even in a hockey related incident.

Johnson has gone on to an OK career with the Colorado Avalanche.  He’s not what you would call a sure-fire top pick, but he’s been good.  Also, the Blues picked up Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk in that trade, so it was not a total bust.

The reason this move ranks so high up there is that draft.  There were so many players the Blues could have taken, in hindsight, and been so much better off.

Phil Kessel, Nick Backstrom, Jordan Staal, Semyon Varlomov, Kyle Okposo and Milan Lucic were all involved in that draft.  That is not even the worst of it.

The name that will be forever seared into our brains is Jonathan Toews.  The captain that led the hated Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships could have been on the Blues.

Similarly to how the Chicago Bulls stole the NBA draft when they took Michael Jordan second overall, the ‘Hawks got Toews third.

The Blues needed a defenseman and Johnson was most analysts’ consensus top pick.  Still, it is a kick to the nuts every time you think the Blues could have had one of the league’s current greats and settled for a player that is just OK and not even on their team anymore.

2.  Adam Oates

February 7, 1992 is a date that will live in infamy for the St. Louis Blues and their fans.  Adam Oates and Brett Hull had formed one of the most formidable duos in NHL history, despite only playing two full seasons together.

While we marvel at the Golden Brett’s overall numbers, Hull’s three most productive seasons in his entire career were the ones he played with Adam Oates.

Hull had 72, 86 and 70 goals with Oates by his side.  Oates had 79, 90 and 59 assists as well before being dealt (he got 20 more with Boston for a total of 79 again).

Why in the world would you ever break that up?  It had to be on April Fools’, right?  Well, unfortunately it had to do with Oates himself.

Oates had just signed a four-year, $3 million extension.  Even so, he grew jealous of other deals given to several players including Brendan Shanahan.  He threatened to walk out on the team after the 1992 All-Star game.  Backed into a corner, the team felt compelled to trade him off instead of renegotiating.

So the Blues traded Oates for Craig Janney and Stephane Quintal.  Both players had OK stints with the Blues productive careers.  Oates also failed to recapture his glory after two spectacular seasons with the Bruins.  However, this deal provides the biggest “what if?” in Blues history.

On principle,I get why you would not want to renegotiate with someone you just gave a new deal to.  Conversely, the Blues might have had something beyond special if they had kept Hull and Oates together.  The team was extremely talented with Hull alone, but just imagine what could have happened if had a Robin to his Batman.

Even Oats has wondered that  out loud.  “The year he scored 86, it was just magical. It was one of those years, wherever we went Brett would score two goals or a hat trick. It was just fantastic. I can’t believe we only played together 2½ years because it felt like 10. It was just so special. We just really hit it off as buddies, friends. We played the game the same way; the chemistry was just excellent,” said Oates.

1. Mike Keenan

Iron Mike Keenan quickly brought one of the most hopeful periods in team history along with him.  After getting into a dispute with the New York Rangers’ GM, Keenan left the Big Apple only weeks after winning the Stanley Cup.

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However, things quickly soured and the honeymoon period was extremely short.  The Blues were forced to make a trade of Petr Neved for Esa Tikkanen and Doug Lidster as part of a compensation package to appease the NHL, which was not at all pleased with how all the events transpired.

On top of losing Nedved, the NHL fined the Blues $250,000, which was the most a team could be fined at the time.

Tikkanen still had gas left in the tank, but Nedved went on to a very good career and could have been a really nice piece in the Blues lineup. Additionally, Keenan went overboard in bringing in “his players.”  The Blues immediately got older under Keenan with acquisitions of players like Adam Creighton, Craig MacTavish and Stephane Matteau.

He also seemed to take joy in picking the team apart.  He traded ultra-popular Brendan Shanahan for a then-unknown Chris Pronger.  He sent Curtis Joseph packing for draft picks.  He traded away Guy Carbonneau, where he won another Cup with Dallas, for Paul Broten. Broten, interestingly, went from a steady NHLer to a minor leaguer after playing under Keenan.

Really, you could make a top-10 list of move Keenan made, by himself, that we wish were April Fools’ jokes.  There are still people in this city angry about losing Shanny and CuJo.

All of that pales in comparison to his most infamous achievement.  Shortly before the trade deadline in 1996, the Blues fleeced the LA Kings and picked up Wayne Gretzky.  The Blues had the talent to win it all and might have if Toronto had not taken a run at and injure Grant Fuhr.  With their friendship and chemistry, Gretzky and Hull could have equaled or maybe even eclipsed Hull and Oates.

Instead, another dream was ripped away from the fans quicker than you can say Hull and Oates.  There are tons of rumors as to what transpired but it boils down to Gretzky thinking St. Louis was going to be his last stop and that not happening.

The stories say that Gretzky had a contract offer on the table prior to the end of the regular season.  Keenan, being an uber-genius, yanked that off the table, which is something you do not do to the Great One.

Once the offseason came around, 99 made it clear that he would not re-sign with the Blues as long as Keenan was in charge.  The team picked the coach/GM over the greatest player ever and it came back to bite them.

Keenan did his best to drive Brett Hull out of town as well, but the player ended up winning that battle.  The Blues had some good seasons under Keenan, but the move to bring him in was still the worst in Blues’ history.  Keenan was fine as a coach, but once the Blues put him in a position of power, it was the death knell.

Keenan ousted several all-time great players and almost drove two of the best in NHL history away from the Blues.  He traded away fan-favorites and players that went on to win elsewhere.  He alienated almost everyone he came into contact with.

He is still one of the most hated figures in team history and rightfully so.  While Nedved wasn’t a mega-superstar, I’d like to see how history would have changed if the Blues kept him and hired someone else.

It is hard to only take one item out of an equation and keep all else the same.  Still, think of the possibilities if the Blues had Hull, Gretzky, Cournall, Joseph or Fuhr, Shanahan or Pronger and MacInnis as well as the solid secondary pieces they had before Keenan brought in all his cronies.  It still aches to think about.

What do you think of this list?  Did we miss any?  Would you swap any rankings around?  Let us know.

*note* additional trade info found at nhltradetracker.com